GUIDES
Read what AI gives you, on your Mac
Plain answers to the questions people ask about .md files on a Mac: how to open them, where AI tools save them, how to read them comfortably, and how to turn them into PDF or Word.
Opening files
7 min readWhy .md files open in Xcode or TextEdit, and how to fix itWhy double-clicking a .md file opens Xcode, TextEdit or a random app, and how to choose the app that opens every .md file on your Mac.9 min readHow to open a .md file on a Mac (and actually read it)Why a .md file opens as symbols on a Mac, what each built-in app shows you, and how to make every .md file open as a formatted page.7 min readHow to see .md files formatted in Quick Look on a MacWhy the spacebar preview shows .md files as raw symbols, which Quick Look extensions fix it (free and paid), and how to turn one on.18 min readWhere Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT save files on your MacWhere each AI tool puts the files it creates on macOS, what /tmp and ~ mean, and five fast ways to open a file when all you have is a path.10 min readWhere does Claude save files on my Mac?Where Claude.ai, the desktop app, Cowork and Claude Code put the files they make, how to open ~/.claude, and what to do when a file is missing.
Working with AI
12 min readHow to edit a .md file without breaking itThe edits that break a .md file (tables, lists, code, frontmatter, bold), how to fix each one, and how to edit safely in TextEdit, VS Code, Typora or a reader.8 min readPaste ChatGPT or Claude text into Word without # and starsWhy AI text pastes into Word or Google Docs full of # and ** symbols, and quick fixes for Word, Google Docs, email and Slack, including tables.8 min readHow to review a Claude Code plan before approving itWhere Claude Code saves plan files, how to open a plan outside the terminal, and a review workflow with a feedback prompt you can copy.8 min readHow to see what your AI changed in a documentFree and paid ways to see exactly what Claude, Codex or another AI changed in a file on your Mac, with or without git, instead of trusting its summary.
Reading better
10 min readHow to add color to Mermaid diagramsHow to color Mermaid flowcharts, pie charts and Gantt charts with style, classDef and theme settings, plus a prompt that gets Claude or ChatGPT to do it for you.12 min readDyslexia, ADHD and autism: making AI documents easier to readWhat helps dyslexic, ADHD and autistic readers with long AI documents on a Mac, what the research says about OpenDyslexic, and how to tune a page to fit you.16 min readHow to read Mermaid diagrams without reading the codeWhat Mermaid is, how to tell which diagram an AI wrote, how to read flowcharts, timelines and pie charts as text, and how to see them drawn on a Mac.13 min readMarkdown tables that are actually readableWhy Markdown tables are so hard to read raw, how to read and edit them without breaking them, and how to get AI tools to write better ones.9 min readReading AI documents when you think in picturesWhy raw Markdown is tiring for visual thinkers, what actually helps you read AI output faster, and how to set up your Mac so documents arrive readable.
Markdown explained
Sharing and exporting
9 min readHow to turn a .md file into a PDF on a Mac (and print it)Five ways to turn a .md file into a clean PDF on a Mac, with tables and diagrams intact, plus how to print it so it looks like a normal document.9 min readHow to turn a .md file into a Word documentWord can't read Markdown formatting. Here are five ways to turn a .md file into a real .docx on a Mac, and what to do when a Word file comes back.7 min readHow to send a .md file to someone who's never seen oneWhich format to send when you share a .md file (PDF, Word, the .md or a link), what to say with it, and how to keep one version everyone trusts.